Return of Alice
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: it had bee fifteen years since alice left heartland and return to her own world. leaving the role holders heart broken. now on her death bed she has decided to send her old friends her daughter with the hopes that they can do something to save her
1. Chapter 1

It had been over fifteen years since Alice went back home, leaving the role holders all heart broken and alone. But now there was a new outsider in their midst, and the game could begin again. Will someone win the game this time? And if so who will win the outsiders heart?

You may have to vote.

Julliusxalice?

Bloodxalice?

Elliotxalice?

BorisxAlice?

You decide.

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"Ali. Angel come here." The thirty three year old woman laying on the bed called out to her fifteen year old daughter. Her time was running out. She could feel it in the way her breath rattled in her lungs, she felt so tired. So weak. She just wanted to close her eyes and drift, but she had something to say first.

"Yes, mom." Alice Eveangiline Mary Liddol, her daughter. Her precious baby named afte her and he great grand mother said as she moved in closer so that she could see her. Alice, the woman who had given birth to her looked up at her and smiled. Her Ali was so beautiful. The total opisit of her blond hair and blue eyed, fairness.

Ali had jet black hair and wide teal colored eyes that sometimes turned a lovely shade of turquoise, angelic features, and a soft voice. Yes she was the very oppisit of Alice Liddol herself.

"I'm dying, baby." She said the words as if they had just popped into her head, her tone slightly suprised. Ali blinked at her and took her hand, a look of determination on her pretty face.

"Your not dying mom. You still have many years ahead of you." Her teal eyes flickered to her mother's face, noting how pale and bloodless her face looked, she reached out and snatched the pill bottle off of the bedside table and read the label.

It was at tirty three years of age her mother had discovered that she had terminal cancer and had been forced to live indoors for the past few months as her health spiraled down. Thirty three was much too young to die. Alice cuckled at her daughter's tone. She had sounded like she was issuing an order. "No. I'm dying. I kow that you can feel it just as much as I. I want to ask you a question."

"Alright fire away."

"Do you remember the bed time storys that I used to tell you as a child? The ones about heartland?"

Ali frowned and looked at her mother again, was it the pain pills talking? "I remember. Why do you ask?"

"Because it's real. Every word I told you is based on fact." Yup, definitly the pain pills.

"That isn't possible mom. Neko men and usagi men don't exist." Ali said gently as she checked her mothers blood pressure and couted her heart beats.

"Yes they do-" Alice argued as she reached into her shirt and pulled out a small purple, amythest crystal container full of liquid. "This contains the liquid that Peter made me drink the day that I arrived there. I noticed several months ago that the vial had refilled. I want you to take it and drink the contents." _I want you to escape. _Alice thought as she tied to hand the vial to Ali.

She didn't want her baby girl to suffer through watching her die, and then suffer though her father's visits. Nothing good would ever come of that man coming to see Ali once she was dead. He never came byto check on their daughter, just to slap her around and tell her that she was worthless when he got drunk and she tried to push him out the front door. He had walked out on Alice ten years ago after she had found one of his friends in Ali's bedroom touching her.

Ali had been frightened and crying for her father to help her but he had just sood there and watched. The low life bastard. Alice had barely gotten Ali way form them before her father's friend could rape her. She could'nt remember a time she had felt so angry and betrayed as she had that night.

Alice had forced the men out of her home, and away from her daughter at gun point and had forbidden them to ever return. It had taken her years to pull Ali from her shell, the trauma that she had suffered that night still remained fresh in her mind, making her wary of men. And that was no way for her Ali to live out the rest of her life.

Alice wanted her little girl to feel safe enough, and confident enough to allow herself to fall in love. She wanted her to live in heartland with Boris, merry, Jullian, Blood, Elliot, Ace and the others. She wanted her to be taken care of.

"I don't think so mom." Ali said as she pshed the vial back at her mom. She was not drinking a strange liquid, even if it was what her mother wanted.

"Ali, please. Take the vial and drink whats in it." Alice begged as she pushed the vial back at her daughter. Ali growled at her.

"No."

"Ali. This is my last wish, how can you expect me to move on once I die if you don't do it?"

Ali looked at her as if she would like to throttle her. She was not going to be guiltd into drinking it. No way, no how. Nuh-uh. No. "It might very well be poisioned, and you want me to drink it. Are you insane?"

"It is'nt. Just try it."

"No!"

"Ali!" Her mother looked at her with tears in her eyes and Ali found herself taking the vial and downing the liquid inside without thinking. Dammit. She hated it when her mother cried. It always made her feel like such a bully. Alice smiled as Ali wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at her.

_It would'nt be long now._ Alice thought as she opened up the drawer in her bedside table and pulled out a sealed envolope and handed it to Ali. "Give that to the first person that you meet." She said with a smile as Ali's legs went out from under her as a black hole opened up in the floor and sucked her down into it.

_"Take care of her Nightmare."_


	2. Chapter 2

_"Take care of her Nightmare."_

The dark figure stared at the crystal orb floatin in front of him with a sense of sorrow. "Oh Alice..." How time had changed her and taken it's toll. She was so pale, her hair knoted and matted against her head, there were wrinkles where there should be none around her eyes and her mouth, her once healthy cheeks were sunken and hollow like her eyes. She was dying.

A tear slipped down his face and he hung his head. His dark hair slipping into his face, hiding it. He would mourn her. even if the others had already forgotten her, he would always remember her, and the place she still held in his heart.

He looked up as the yawning darkness around him shifted and the same hole that had appeared under the dark haired girl's feet opened up and she fell through. He caught her easily, and cradled her against his chest as the hole closed above him.

"Now. What should I do with you?" He muttered to himself as he glance own at the unconcious girl in his arms. She was pretty little thing, much like Alice had been. Angelic in appearance, with the lush curves of a woman fully grown.

She moaned and started to wake up, but Nightmare had other plans for her and muttered a sleeping spell to put her back out and opened another dark hole and stepped inside knowing that it would take him strait to Jullian's tower. Thinking that the man would like a little companionship since he had'nt been the same since Alice had left.

Having someone living in the tower with him again might draw him back out of the shell he had with drawn into.

He reappeared out on the daise outside of the main room where Jullian worked and closed his eye as the wind lew softly, ruffling his hair and causing the leaves in te trees to sway back and forth with the breeze. He had forgotten just how beautiful it was in this place. He opened his eye and looked around at the endless sea of spring colors. Soft hues of green, pink, purple, some blue and pale yellow greeted him.

"So beautiful..."

"What the hell are you doing here?" An annoyed sounding voice snapped, startling him so much that he almost dropped the girl. He made a funny little 'eek' sound and caught her before she could hit the ground. One hand clutching her shirt, stretching it dangerously, while his other hand grasped one of her upper arms as he glared at the man who had caused him to drop the outsider.

Jullian was the only person in heartland who had the job as the mortision. He fixed the damaged clocks of the dead and returned them to life. It was a distasteful job and because of it Jullian had learned long ago to sheild his heart from the pain of being abandoned.

At six foot five, with dark blue eyes and long nearly waist length ebony hair. Jullian was one of the most imposing, and physically beautiful figures Nightmare had ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was also the kindest and gentlest among the gun toting lunitics running free in the country side. And in many other ways, he was twice as dangerous.

"Well? are you going to tell me the reason why your here disrupting my work, Nightmare?" Nightmare looked around. What work? There was nothing out here.

"No. I thought I'd just drop this girl off and leave you twisting in the wind." Nightmare snapped as he lifted the girl up as Jillians glanced at female in Nightmares arms.

She looked vaiguely familiar. An image of a girl about thirteen years of age with long golden blond hair and wide green eyes flashed through his mind. _Alice._ His mind whispered the name of a long ago love. The love that had left him hollow inside. "Who is she?" She was'nt from heartland that was for sure. He could tell by her clothes. They were different. Could she maybe be an outsider?

She felt like an outsider.


	3. Chapter 3

She felt like an outsider.

He could feel the same warmth and could see the soft glow of her soul, shining in the center of her being, causing her to glow like a fallen star. "She's a new outsider." Nightmare said almost cheerfully as he bent down and scooped the girl up in his arms and then started to stand back up when his back cracked ominously and he stiffened and paled a little bit.

Julian's eye twitched a little bit. He was not going to help the fool. He was not going to help the fool. He was not going to-

Nightmare's grip on the girl slipped and Julian swore and ran across the small distance and snatched the girl out of mid air and lifted her up and held her against his shoulder and glared at Nightmare. God what he wouldn't give to be a violent man, and to shoot the succubus's knee caps out with his gun. But he wasn't a violent man, which was probably the only reason why he now had the new outsider in his arms and an injured sickly succubus that he longed to kick off of his terrace.

"An outsider huh?" Julian said in a haughty tone as he shifted his hold on the girl so that he could look at her face. She was a pretty little thing, pale skinned and dark haired, her lips a pale soft rose pink. Why had Nightmare brought a new outsider here to Heartland? Especially after so many years. It just didn't make any sense.

"Oh, thank you for catching her. I'm afraid that she might have suffered a cracked skull if she hadn't been caught."

"Then maybe I should have just let her fall." Julian growled as he slipped the girl a little higher up and put her over his shoulder and walked over to his other annoying guest and grabbed him by the scruff of his black leather coat and started dragging him inside.

Nightmare didn't say anything more until they were inside and Julian had tossed him into a chair and laid the girl on a couch that had magically materialized out of thin air, then turned to look at the succubus and hissed.

"Explain why you've brought another outsider here. Now of all times. Was having our collective hearts broken once simply not enough?" He was angry, not that Nightmare could blame him any. He had loved Alice almost as much as Elliot, Ace and Boris had, though his love had been just as pure in nature.

"You won't like what I have to tell you." Nightmare warned the man. Julian bared his teeth at him and growled.

"I do not care. I want a good reason why you have brought this girl here, and why I should let her stay. And keep in mind that if I do not like your answer, I'll be handing her over to Blood to do as he wishes with her _delicate_ and _fragile_ person."

Nightmare sighed and sank back into his seat and looked at Ali and started to talk. Telling Julian about how he had sensed unrest in Alice's heart after she had left Heartland, about her unhappiness and how things had spiraled out of control. He told Julian about her marriage to a man who had beat her and sired a child on her and then did such terrible things to her and her child. He told him about how she had held her husband at gun point and forbidden him to ever come near her or her child again and then how she had become sick and had wanted her child to be sent somewhere safe from her father and his ill intentions.

Julian's anger drained away and he looked over at the girl laying on the couch. "She's Alice's daughter?" He sounded like he was in shock over the fact that his beloved Alice had grown up and married and had a child. Nightmare understood how he felt, he had felt the same shock every time he had peeked in on Alice to see how she was doing.

"Yes."

"She looks nothing like her." Julian said with a frown, his tone some what disbelieving. As if he had thought that any child that Alice had birthed would look exactly like her. Nightmare snorted in amusement.

"She has the same eyes, the same face, the same personality."

"But she is a different person." Julian said gently, almost sadly. Nightmare sighed.

"You all can't live in the past forever Julian, I've given each of you a score of years to get past your heart ache. Your time of grieving is over. Alice sent this girl, her daughter, because she wanted all of you to be happy again. And she wanted her daughter to be safe and well cared for."

"What if we cannot love her?" Julian asked softly, his expression troubled as he looked back at the girl.

Nightmare smiled at him a little bit. They would love her. It was simply their nature to love an outsider. And to keep them from getting their hearts broken again, Nightmare had taken the liberty of hiding the empty vial that Ali had drank from.

If she couldn't find it, then she couldn't go back home.

And if the day ever came when she did somehow manage to find it, he'd shatter it into pieces.

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Meanwhile-

The title holders all stopped what they were doing the instant they felt a fissure of pressure bearing down on their spines. This feeling was overwhelming and terrifying. It gave them chills and made their hearts thud frantically in their chests as they all looked towards the skies.

Another outside had been brought to Heartland.

Another person to adore and love, someone who would perhaps adore and love them. Hope sprang to life in their hearts. This time she would not escape them. They would do whatever it took to keep her with them even if it meant putting her in chains and locking her away forever.


	4. Chapter 4

"What is her name?" Julian asked as he noticed that it was dark outside and Nightmare was shivering with cold. He mentally sighed and walked over to the fire place and tossed a few pieces of wood into the hearth and then used a match to start a fire and backed away as the flames jumped to life. The couch was a few feet farther form the fire place than he would have liked, and the girl was starting to shiver too, he shrugged off his jacket and walked over to her and laid his jacket over her shivering form then looked back at Nightmare, still waiting for an answer.

"Alice. But she goes by Ali most of the time though. I suppose it's to avoid confusion." Nightmare said with a small smile as he snuggled deeper into his seat. Not really caring if his back was hurting him as long as he was warm.

"Alice huh." Julian said in wane amusement as he looked back over at the dark haired beauty sleeping on his couch. How typical of his sweet Alice to use her own name to name her daughter. Couldn't she have come up with something a little bit more original? Like Amanda or Marin or Cassandra?

Well. No matter.

Alice was still one of his favorite names, so he'd get over his name issues soon enough. "What is she like?" Julian asked curiously, part of him wanting to know just how similar to his Alice the girl was while another part of him wondered if he could even come to care about the girl.

"She's very kind. Caring and warm. She worries about others, and can often be found hovering over someones shoulder fretting about one thing or another." There was no point in telling Julian about Alice's death, and how Ali had taken care of her all the years of her sickness. There was no point in telling him that the girl had never really had a childhood or how much that had hurt their Alice. Nor did he dare to tell him about some of the things that the girl's father had put her through.

It was simply too heartbreaking. And it wasn't his place.

No, his place was to put the girl in the hands of the person that she would be safest with. The one who would protect her from all harm. Julian was the most stable minded of all the title holders, and as such he would treat the girl _well_ and make sure that no _harm_ came to her. Because unlike everyone else, Julian was the closest to the truth.

There was only _one_ Alice in all creation. And she was _irreplaceable_.

Julian looked at the fire crackling across the room and remembered how Alice had always hovered over his shoulder as he had fixed the broken clocks that were brought to him.

_"Wouldn't you like to do something else other than watch me? I know it gets boring." _

_Alice smiled at him and shook her head no. "Nope. I like watching you fix the broken clocks. It's like your magic!" _

He had found her idea of him being magic rather dumb, but had been warmed by her words never the less. In fact it was those words that had endeared Alice to him and broken down the barriers that he had erected to protect himself from a life of loneliness, rejection and pain. Which was why it had almost killed him when Alice had left Heartland.

He had spent a majority of his time after she had left just sitting in her room moving around the hair brush that he had gotten for her, reading and re-reading her favorite books and sometimes crying, though he hid it well behind his mask of indifference. He had stopped caring and living.

But this time-this time would be different.

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okay that's it for now.

I'll be introducing the others in the next few chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

He was lost.

Hopelessly. Painfully. _Lost._

The trees in this area looked the same as they did everywhere else. _Oh of all the damn times..._ He thought in irritation as he looked around. Trees to the right and to the left. He looked over his shoulder, hoping that the castle was still well with in sight so that he could call for help but saw nothing.

Damn.

Julian was going to rip his head off and toss his bloody remains into the fire place if he was late even _one _more time! He sighed and hung his head for a second, letting his bangs fall in his face, hiding his eyes then lifted his head and smiled happily. Well as long as he was lost, he could eventually find his way to Julian's tower. Which meant that he had six hours to eight days to come up with a perfectly _reasonable_, and _believable_ story to tell the mortician.

Hopefully he could come up with a good one so that Julian would know how truely pitiful he was and let him live.

Hopefully.

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Teal eyes studied the tracks above.

That roller coaster thing...was going to be a pain in his ass. Especially since he had to conduct the safety tests personally.

His black ears twitched under vivid amethyst colored hair as he heard his less than ideal master come running up behind him. "Boris I found the hard hat!"

_Son of a- _Damn. He should have run as soon as he saw that the new ride was up. "Wonderful. Then you won't mind going on the ride first." He said cheerfully. Because there was _no way_ that he was going up there first. He'd rather have the rest of his tail cut off by that bi-polar knight from the castle of hearts.

Merry gave him a puzzled then a crest fallen look, trying to guilt him into doing what he wanted him too. It wouldn't work. Boris didn't care if he gave him the sad eyed pitiful look. He was not going up there first.

"Please Boris."

"No." Boris said as he crossed his arms over his well toned chest and closed his eyes for a second as his tail (or what was left of it) twitched in irritation.

"But why?" Merry all but whined.

Boris turned and looked at the elder through cold teal eyes, his mid back length amethyst hair slipping over his shoulder as he turned his head. "I'd rather be dead." He growled at the elder as he flattened his ears back against his head. The cold metal of his multiple ear piercings biting into his scalp.

Merry pursed his lips and glared at him for a second, having to tilt his head back just to look at Boris since he had grown so much taller than him in the past five years. The playful kitten that the neko boy had been before had been chipped away by violence, blood shed and heart break until what was left was the twenty year old young man that stood before him decked out in black leather pants and a mid riff black shirt that showed the hard muscle of his abs.

His clawed finger tips of one hand curled against his bicep, digging into his skin, leaving little bloody crimson trails in their wake. Boris looked like he'd like to scratch his eyes out.

Hell, if Merry didn't watch his step around the younger male, Boris _would _scratch his eyes out.

And he'd do it with a smile.

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"Lets play tag!"

"Nah, I'd rather not."

"Why not?"

"It's no fun to play tag with these people anymore. Their just too easy to catch and kill."

Sad green eyes stared at his twin brother. Things just hadn't been the same since Nee-chan had left them. Since then, his brother had with drawn into himself. He had stopped everything. Talking, eating, sleeping, his job.

His brother simply wasn't the same person anymore.

And though he was loath to admit it, neither was he.

"Yeah. Your right. Tag is no fun." It hadn't been fun in a long, long time.

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"Alice..." He whispered his beloveds name as he looked out the window, his molten amber eyes staring at the horizon.

Five years.

It felt like forever since he had seen his precious Alice, yet it had only been five years. God he was so out of touch that he had lost all concept of time. It was pitiful how much he missed her sweet smiling face, and longed to see her.

It was pitiful just how much power she held over him, even now when she had been gone for so long.

But he_ still_ loved her. Even after the way she had betray him and run away from his affection, he still loved her with all his heart.

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Blood held his sister in his arms and rocked her as she cried her heart out.

This is what happened when title holders failed to obtain the affection of an outsider. They because a mere ghost of themselves.

They stopped functioning. They self destructed and died.

_God I hate that woman_. He thought as he gritted his teeth and ran his fingers through Vivaldi's curly blue black hair as she pressed her face against his shoulder and cried harder.

_"Alice... I want Alice! Please bring her back!" _Vivaldi cried hysterically.

Blood rubbed her back as she took a shuddering breath. He made shushing sounds and hummed as he tried to figure out what had triggered this violent spell. To his knowledge no one had mentioned that damned woman, he hadn't even let Vivaldi keep the little dolls that she had commissioned one of the town people to make for her. He had taken them away from her knowing that they would only remind her of her pain and sorrow from losing the only real friend she had ever had.

"She isn't here angel. She can't hurt you any more." Blood said softly, trying to sooth her.

Vivaldi sobbed harder and pushed against his chest and struggled in an effort to escape. _"Alice! Give her back! You can't have her damn you! Alice!"_ She screamed so loudly that Blood was amazed that she could even still speak as he grasped her wrists and tried to stop her struggles, but she was fighting him like a mad woman.

"She isn't here sister! She went home." Didn't Vivaldi remember? Alice had abandoned them. She didn't care if she had hurt them, weather they lived or died.

Vivaldi pushed against his chest against, this time wrenching herself from his grasp and looked up at the domed ceiling in her private toy room and held up her arms and reached for something invisible, something that Blood couldn't see.

_"Alice! She's right there! I can see her. Help me reach her before she fades away!" _


	6. Chapter 6

okay just to clear some things up-

1) the mixed up eye color. I do not have any color pictures of the characters and have nothing to go by. So sorry if I get it wrong. I'm mostly using what I think suites them.

2) I know that I've mentioned Ali's father before, but the truth is...well read this chapter and find out.

3) I'm sorry that their personalities are so out of whack, but five years of grief would do funny things to people. In this case it has caused some of the more immature characters to mature, and others to sort of lose their sense of self.

Hopefully having Ali around will help them heal.

Well, that's all for now. Have fun reading.

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Elliot had a secret that no one else knew.

A secret that he had sworn _never_ to tell.

The reason why Alice had really left them all and gone home was because she hadn't had a choice. She had been dying, the combination of stress form the constant fighting, coupled with her hidden condition had been killing her and she simply couldn't stay anymore. Her health had become too damn _fragile_.

And it was partially Blood's fault.

He had been the one who had won Alice's affections. Even after he had hurt her and made her cry, time after time, he had still been the one that she had run too, the one she smiled for.

The one who had sired a child on her and abandoned her because of his petty jealousy. He had struck her and called her a whore the day that she had come to tell him that he was going to be a father. All because she had gotten sick and fainted and had been taken care of by Peter White.

Blood was a _fool_.

But the others would be surprised when Alice kept her promise and sent Blood's child back to Heartland to stay with them. Until then he would keep her secret. And hope that her baby was a girl. One with dark hair like Blood's, but with a kinder heart. He hoped that she was strong, and sweet, and as beautiful as her mother had been.

He already knew in his heart that he would adore her like he had adored her mother. He would be a good friend to her and keep her safe from her father's temper tantrums. He'd do anything for her if it would make her smile.

He turned over in his bed and put an arm up over his head and opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a second or so before yawning and getting up. His messy brown hair curling this way and that around his face and shoulders. He blinked his sapphire blue eyes and scratched behind his right ear and then started finger combing his hair as he walked across his bedroom floor, pausing every few steps to wiggle his toes and dig them into the red and cream colored carpet.

Making his toes and feet tingle and almost tickle as he walked over to his mahogany dresser and pulled open one of the drawers and dug out a white wife beater and a long sleeved pale blue shirt to wear over it then found a pair of pants and socks and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

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Julian and Nightmare talked through most of the night before the succubus finally left and Julian decided to move Ali to one of the bedrooms down the hall.

He had thought at first that he should put her in her mother's old room but chose instead to put her in his room, mainly because he rarely used it and putting her in her mothers former room just seemed wrong to him. Despite who Ali's mother was, she herself wasn't Alice and he wouldn't treat her like she was.

He laid her on his bed and quickly tugged off her shoes and pulled the covers up over her and stepped away. He made it half way to the door before guilt tugged at his conscience and he turned around and walked over to the reading chair that he had sitting next to the window and dropped down in it figuring that it might be for the best if he didn't leave Ali alone since she would have questions once she woke up.

He sat there for hours, fidgeting with his pocket watch, brushing invisible dust from his jacket. Finally just when the sun started to come up he settled in and dozed off for a little bit and was awakened an hour or so later when he heard the mattress squeak and managed to drag himself from the depths of sleep to glance at the bed and made a soft humming sound when he saw the girl sitting up on his bed looking around the room with an almost panicked expression on her pretty face.


	7. Chapter 7

Ali looked around the unfamiliar room wide eyed as panic surged through her system. Where was she? Where was her mother? She couldn't remember anything. Not what had happened after drinking what was in the crystal vial, not what had happened to her mother, not how she had gotten in this strange room or where she was or who had taken her from her mothers side when her mother needed her with her, and she was so-so very afraid that she had somehow been dragged away from her mothers side by one of her father's _sick_ friends.

The room itself was beautiful, the curtains and bed sheets were all a shimmery sapphire blue, aqua, silver and turquoise satin like material. The carpet was a pretty cream color that matched the walls. The wooden furniture was a soft bleached off white cherry wood.

There were no pictures, though she could plainly see two large book shelves that ran from ceiling to floor full of leather bound books next to a white marble fire place, a window, a chair with a man in it-

Wait. There was someone in the room with her? She looked at the dark figure and had to slap her hands over her mouth to keep from crying out in fear while mentally berating herself for starting to act like a weak minded woman when she was anything but weak. She had gone through hell to become strong and independent. To become the type of person who wasn't afraid of what others might do to her or think of her.

She had learned through experience how to fight. And she fought _dirty_.

If this person was one of her fathers friends trying to break her again and make her into a proper toy, she wouldn't hesitate to kill him as soon as his back was turned. She was no ones toy and it was time her father and his friends gave up on making her into one.

She took a second to pull herself together and suppress the shaking in her limbs and let her hands fall away from her mouth and settle in her lap as the man slowly got up out of his seat and walked towards the bed. He paused just outside of kicking range and she felt the intense need to provoke him into coming closer so that she could rip off his balls and hand them to him, but suppressed it and tipped her head back to look at him and almost gasped as she got a good look at him.

Dear god in heaven he looked like the devil himself!

He was a dark and angelic looking man with strikingly beautiful features and the most exotic looking blue eyes, his hair hung loosely down his back almost to his waist, some of the dark silken strands curling around his face and shoulders slightly.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked in a polite tone as he studied her tousled appearance. She might want to shower and change her clothes in a little bit, but right now he felt he needed to explain _where_ she was, and _how_ she had gotten here, and _why_ she was here.

Ali stared at him a fraction of a second too long before she answered, her tone and expression wary. "Yes."

He gave her a small nod and folded his arms across his chest. "I imagine that you have questions."

Ali said nothing. She just nodded her head and the man gave her a small smile. "I will do my best to answer them, but first I just want you to know that you are in a _safe_ place far from your father and his cruelty, and no one here will _ever_ harm you. I'll make sure of it _personally_."

Ali shivered. She just couldn't help it, there was something about the way he had just spoken that made her think that he was a man fully capable of murder. The thought of being in the hands of someone like him simply chilled her to the bone.

Julian saw her shiver and shrugged off his jacket thinking that she must have gotten cold considering that the fire in the fire place had died down hours ago and the room had become a little bit chilly. He moved forward a little bit and draped his jacket around her shoulders startling her a little bit if the way she jumped and stared at him trough wide frightened eyes that made his heart ache.

Nightmare had been right. She looked exactly like her mother. Her features, her eyes, her slender and delicate build.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just trying to keep you from catching a chill." He said as he moved back away from her and waited for her to settle down again.

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Alice Evangeline Mary Liddol was a very patient for a fifteen year old girl. Everyone had told her so. Her mother. Her grand parents. The one or two friends that hadn't betrayed her to her father. She sat on the bed, making sure to stay as far from this strange man's reach as she could just in case she needed to try and make a run for it, and listened to him speak.

So far he had told her his name and that they were in a place called Heartland. Which sounded a mite on the familiar/suspicious side to her. He was one of the title holders in some territory and lived in a castle like mansion where he worked on clocks.

Once he was done telling her that much he walked across the room to his dresser and pulled out something and walked back over to the bed and laid a large sky blue book on the edge of the bed along with what looked like some money and stepped back again.

"Your free to do as you like. To come and go as you like. I will not stop you. You can stay here in one of the other rooms if you want too, or you can stay somewhere else. The book is yours and so is the money. I'm not very used to having guests, so I'm ill equipped to see to your needs. You can probably buy some clothes and other things in the town about a mile or so from here..."

"You're not going to stop me?" Ali asked almost suspiciously as she inched towards the edge of the bed on her hands and knees. Julian blinked at her and shook his head no.

"Trust is earned little one." And he could tell already that she didn't trust him. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time, it was a habit that he had formed after Alice had left. He had started mentally counting the minutes, the hours and days, silently hoping that she would return.

"I have work to do. Please feel free to explore and do whatever you want. I'll likely be busy for a while." He put his watch away and turned and started to walk away when Ali called out to him in an almost panicked voice, stopping him in his tracks. He turned his head slightly to look at her and noticed that she seemed to be silently cursing herself for calling out to him then asked in a worried tone.

"You never told me where my mother was. Is she here?" Julian felt as he had just been struck, the air left his lungs and he turned around to face her and said the most horrible thing any man could say to a young girl.

"I'm sorry. But you may never see you're mother again." He didn't say it to hurt her, or to make her cry or upset her. He was simply being honest. Ali might never see her mother again and she would have to get used to that fact if she was going to live in Heartland, or else she would never be happy.

Ali had a stricken expression on her face that tugged at his heartstrings, made his heart ache painfully in his chest as he turned away again and walked out of the room just as she climbed off of the bed and ran to the door, pushing him out of her way a little bit as she ran past him and out into the hall then looked around for a second and picked which way to go and took off as fast as she could. He stood in the doorway watching her and sighed.

God this was a mess.

How were the title holders supposed to make Ali happy when she might always search for the ghost of the mother that she would never see again?


	8. Chapter 8

Ali ran and ran, searching every bedroom that she came across for any signs of her mother and by the time she finally worked her way outside she was crying. Her lungs burning more and more with every ragged sob that escaped her.

Where was she? Where was her mom? Why couldn't she find her? Could she be in a different place? Ali wondered curiously as she snifled a little bit and wiped her eyes and started walking.

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Boris walked beside Merry listening to him chatter about how long it had been since they had visited Julian. It had been three years since they had last popped in for a visit and the only reason that boris was going was to see if Alice's old room was still intact. And if it was, well he'd probably be pilfering another artical of clothing or something to help him remember what she smelled like.

Not that he had forgotten or anything. No, Alice's scent was too distinct to be forgotten.

She had always smelled like honeysuckles, cream and cinnomen with a small hint of almonds. The sweet slightly spicy scent had clung to the pores of her skin, the soft silk of her hair. It clung to everything like a fine mist covering everything around it.

He was so busy trying to tune Merry out that he never heard him speaking to someone as they started to pass them, but his attention was snagged easily enough when he caught a whiff of the person's scent and came to a total stop and looked over his shoulder at the retreating back of a young woman with long ebony hair.

His ears twitched slightly as he lifted his head, subtly sniffing the air then hissed.

Jesus Christ. That person smelled exactly like Alice did! His heart thudded in his chest as hope rose up. Could Alice have returned? He wondered as he turned and started to follow after the dark haired female.

"I'm looking so forward to seeing Julian again. Aren't you?" Merry said happily as he kept walking. The bottle of wine in his hand sloshing softly with each and every step. He turned his head a little bit to look at Boris, hoping that he would answer him but was a little suprised to see that Boris wasn't there.

He looked around and frowned when he couldn't find the neko man and sighed. "Well hell." He'd lost his cat again.

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Boris kept his target well in sight as she wove her way in and out of the crowded market place. He had already calculated her age, height, body wieght. So far he figured her to be in between the ages of fifteen and sixteen. She was five foot five, just a little taller than he had expected and probably weighed less than a hundred and twenty pounds.

The things that he would need to know if he was intending to kill. The only difference was that he had no intention of killing this female. He just wanted to talk to her. Learn her name, where she was from, what her voice sounded like, what color her eyes were, ect.

It wasn't that he thought that he might genuinely _like_ her or anything.

He was just curious.

She stopped at the end of the block and he picked up his pace, fighting the urge to get low to the ground and pounce on her as soon as he was close enough. He fought it down for the most part, but knew that he was still probably going to _try_ taking her unawares since it would be easier to talk to her if he didn't have to worry about a father, brother, or even a boyfriend coming to save her once he had her.

After all he doubted that she would talk to him if he got into a fight with one of her relitives or her boyfriend just so that he could speak with her a little bit. She looked one way and then another and seemed to decide on a direction.

He licked his lips and sped up, breaking into a run and closing what little distance there was left. She somehow heard him coming despite the fact that he was frighteningly light on his feet for someone who weighed a little over one hundred and fourty pounds, and turned her head to look at him.

His ears flattened back against his head and he lunged as he made out the lovely teal color of her eyes and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up off of the ground as he moved. He heard the faint whoosh of air as it was pushed from her lungs and tossed her up in the air a little bit so that he could get a better grip on her and slung her over his shoulder and took off running as fast as he could while she was still too dazed to scream for help.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay just to clear up one little thing (just one more to add to the damn list) I know that _Julius_ is his name.

But it sounds exactly like my mortal enemy's name and I can be a very, _very_ vindictive bitch. So even though I couldn't remember how to actually spell his name when I started; I just decided that fixing his name _now_, and calling him Julius now, would be very bad because I would want to do terrible things to him just to vent.

So for the time being just bear with me and _let me_ call him Julian.

He looks more like a _Julian_ than a Julius anyways.

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Ali couldn't breath as she was slung over the shoulder of some strange person. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Fear pulsed through her veins and she smacked the back of the person who had grabbed her and tried kicking her feet but the strange man had her legs pinned in place with one arm, effectively keeping her form kicking him and causing harm. Her lungs started to burn and her vision started to go dark.

No! She couldn't afford to pass out or faint no matter how hard it was to breathe. If she did she was as good as dead and she knew it. She tried kicking again and her kidnapper tightened his hold on her legs.

"I know that you're scared girl, but bear with me just a little bit longer."

She opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell but everything started spinning and she closed her eyes to block out the sensations and the next thing she knew she was being set down. Her eyes opened for a second to see if any of her surroundings were familiar but all she could see was amethyst hair and peculiar teal colored eyes staring back at her.

Her legs started to go out from under her and she felt big hands come up to grab her upper arms and hold her upright. "Whoa there doll. Take deep breaths. Yes that's it, fight off the dizziness-" The stranger said as he carefully eased her down to the ground so that she could sit and gracefully dropped down to the ground across from her and folded his long legs under him with practiced ease.

Boris felt like a total bastard as he looked at the female. He couldn't really see her face, her long dark curly hair was in the way though he could see her mouth easily enough. She was gasping for air as if she were suffocating and he winched a little bit as she finally managed to speak.

"W-What the hell were you trying to do? Kill me?" She sounded so...offended that he might have been trying to kill her that his lips twitched slightly.

"No. That was never my intention." He assured her. Trying hard to keep from smiling because he knew that she wouldn't believe him if he smiled.

She made a pissed off growling sound and flipped her hair back from her face and glared at him. Boris stared at her in nearly opened mouthed shock.

_Holy shit._

Not only did she smell like Alice but she looked like her too! "Well you could have fooled me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to breathe when you have a shoulder against you're stomach?" She snapped. Boris held up his hands, palms out in a non threatening manner and looked surprised.

At himself, his actions, maybe? Or was it this strange girl's fiery temper that suprised him? Maybe a little bit of both.

"S-Sorry." He said lamely, his ears flattening back against his head a little bit as he recalled the last time a woman had spoken to him in such a manner and almost smiled again. She took several deep breaths and looked around, noticing the trees and the lack of people around before saying.

"Damn-" Then looked at him again and asked. "Well, what was so important that you felt the need to scare me out of ten years of my life?" Ali was afraid to ask him if he was going to hurt her. So she kept snapping at him. It's just what she did when she was scared. Some people bit their fingernails, and _she _snapped.

"Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you for a little while." Boris said as he looked her over, it had been five years since Alice had left Heartland, and he knew that no matter how much this strange girl looked like her, she just couldn't be her. By his rough estimate Alice would be well in her thirties maybe her forties. Much too old to look so young. So once he factored in her striking resemblance, and her scent and about a dozen other things that he had noticed, he now had a fairly good idea who this girl was.

She was in some way related to Alice.

She got quiet for a few minutes before saying in a shocked tone that drew him out of his musings. "You have cat ears. Why do you have cat ears? Are you into cos play?"


	10. Chapter 10

"C-Cos play?" Boris asked curiously. Why the hell would the girl ask him if he was into cos play? She reached up and used her hands to make little ears for herself and then gave him a pointed look. Oh. Now he understood what she was talking about.

She was talking about his ears and tail and wondering why he had them. So he explained why he had cat ears as best he could. Short, sweet, and direct. "Because I'm a cat man."

She snorted at his answer and he got the impression that she was insulting him in some way before she said. "There is no such thing as cat men." She said matter of factly as she reached out and grabbed his ears in her hands and pulled a little bit, trying to pull them off of his head because she thought they really were fake.

He sat there for all of ten seconds, letting her pull slightly, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere with her until she got this out of her system and well, she wasn't hurting him anyways since he had gotten used to having his ears pulled on by some of the more obnoxious patrons at Merry's amusement park.

Finally after a second or so she let go of his ears and sat back with a funny look of disbelief on her pretty face. "Did you super glue those to your head?" She made her question sound like an accusation. He gave her a bored look and twitched his ears a little bit before flattening them back against his head. His tail twitched a little bit in irritation and he stared at her as she got this amusing wide eyed look on her face before pointing at him and nearly shrieking.

"Oh my god they moved! How did you do that? Is it some sort of trick?" His tail twitched a little more, this time just a bit faster. She was starting to annoy him now.

"Seriously tell me how you did that." She demanded and the tight leash he had on his temper snapped a little bit and before she could say anything else he wrapped his tail around one of her ankles and used it to lift her up into the air and dangled her in front of him.

She made a funny little outraged sound and looked at him. He gave her a nice, mean looking smile, making sure to let her see his fangs as he stood up and reached out one hand and used it to push her a little bit so that she swung back and forth in front of him and laughed a little bit in amusement. She had the most shocked look on her face. As if she still couldn't quite believe that he was a cat man.

"Put me down." She said after a second or so of silence and he grinned at her. Oh he would put her down, but first he was going to locate a nice pond, and throw her in it to pay her back for her rude behavior.

"I will. Once I find a nice cold pond to toss you in." He said as he started walking, making sure to keep her right in front of him where he could see her at all times. She made a low growling sound in the back of her throat.

"You better not. These are the only clothes that I have and I don't want them ruined."

He gave her a wide eyed mock innocent look and made a humming sound. "Okay, no pond. A mud puddle then."

She snapped at him. "You better not! My mother gave me these clothes and I'll kick your ass if you dare to ruin them!"

He looked down at her face and thinned his lips and silently debated on letting her go. Apparently he took too long in his silent debate, because one minute he was walking through the woods and the next...

She punched him.

In the groin.

_Hard._

He screamed and doubled over and dropped her on her head all at once as he sank to his knees in pain and tried to fathom what had just happened.

Ali hit the ground with a dull thud and jumped back up to her feet and ran around the doubled over cat 'man' and used her foot to push him face forward onto the ground and then stomped on him. He made a loud "MYARRR!" Sound and then growled low in his throat, the sound was so angry, so dark and menacing that it startled her a little bit as he turned his head to glare at her over his shoulder. His teal eyes glowing.

_What the hell?_ She wondered as she felt a chill run down her spine.

"I think you should run now..." He said in a low dangerous tone that scared her. Man oh man he looked pissed. She nodded her head and took off running and not even ten seconds later heard the sound of heavy foot falls close behind her and peeked over her shoulder and screamed.

Holy shit he was pissed!

"You should run faster if you don't want me to catch you!" The cat man growled as he swiped at her with sharp claw like finger nails. She screamed and ran faster and he laughed. He'd have her in a second or so since she wasn't able to maintain her pace.

And while he knew that he had sort of brought what she had done on himself, that was still no excuse for what she had done. It simply wasn't right to hit a guy in that area. So he was going to have to punish her for hitting him there. Still if there was one thing he was already sure of it was the fact that he wouldn't hurt her.

At most he'd steal her clothes or something and let her wonder around without them for a while.

Yeah, that sounded like a fairly descent punishment.

It wasn't exactly painful, but it would be embarrassing.

And that worked for him.


	11. Chapter 11

Boris sat back and admired his handy work as he looked at the girl.

She hadn't been half as easy to catch as he had thought she would be. And he had the bruises to prove it. "Give me back my clothes." The female said in a slightly shaky tone as she looked up at him, her teal eyes had a frightened almost haunted look to them as she carefully tried to push herself upright without removing her hands from in front of her breasts. Trying desperately to hide the nice red and black lac bra that she was wearing.

But she couldn't hide everything and Boris had to admit, the girl had fantastic taste in under things. He looked her over a little more slowly and felt his body temperature spike a little bit. Wow.

_Wow._ She was a fucking knock out like this.

Her skin was pale, flushed a pretty pink, her dark hair had a tousled look to it and fell around her face, shoulders and down her back in dark waves and curles as she tried to curl her body in a ball and hide herself, obviously embarrassed that he had stripped her down to her panties and bra.

Really, she was adorable.

And he felt like such a bastard. _Again... _The feeling was so strong that he almost wanted to use his tail to hang himself. "I'll give you back you're clothes if you'll stop trying to hurt me and just talk to me." He said as he knelt down next to her and shrugged out of his jacket and wrapping it around her slender shoulders.

Startling himself slightly at the almost noble action. Figuring that even if he refused to give her back her clothes right now, he would lend her his jacket and let her try to hide herself in it's folds for the time being.

It was better than nothing. Right?

Ali looked at him strangely as she thought about what he had just said. He'd give her back her clothes if she just talked to him. She didn't understand. What would just talking to him achieve? "You'll really give me back my clothes?" She asked in a doubtful tone as she gripped the lapels of his jacket in her hand, holding it closed as she arranged the rest of it to hide her panties and her legs.

He smiled at her and handed her a shoe.

She blinked at him and took it and set it down next to her and sighed. Crap. If this was how he wanted to do this she didn't have much choice, did she? "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Lets start with the basics. How about you tell me your name." Boris said as he eased himself into a sitting position next to her.

"My name is Alice-" Ali said and noticed that the cat man stiffened slightly and flattened his ears back against his head and stared at her for a second or so with an unfathomable expression on his face before hesitantly handing her her other shoe. "But I mostly go by Ali."

"Your last name. It isn't Liddol is it?" Boris asked curiously. His heart suddenly beating much too fast in his chest. Excitement warring with anxiety.

Ali gave him a shocked look and slowly nodded her head, wondering how this cat man could know her name. His mouth opened and he looked like he wanted to say something but snapped his mouth closed and thinned his lips for a second then asked.

"Age?"

"F-Fifteen." She was almost sixteen actually and had only a month or so to go before her next birthday but he hadn't asked her that so she didn't bother saying anything. He handed her a sock.

"Favorite color?"

"Blue, red, purple, black, silver and copper." He handed her another sock.

"Measurements?"

"I'm not answering that because a true gentleman wouldn't ask." She said with a pointed look and he gave her a _thoroughly_ feline grin. Well. She had him there. He handed her one of her pants legs but kept his grip on the other one.

"What do you like to do to pass the time?"

"Not much of anything. Reading. Napping. Exploring. Visiting with friends..." Even though she rarely had the time to spare to do any of those things. He handed her the other pants leg and looked at her shirt and sighed in defeat and handed it to her too.

"Go behind the tree over there and get dressed. I'll sit here and wait." He said as she collected her clothes and started to stand and gave him another doubtful look.

"This is all you wanted?"

"This and just a little time to get to know you. Now scamper off and put some clothes on before someone come along and sees you." She gave him a wide eyed look and blushed then ran behind the tree a few feet away to do as he had told her.

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Blood and Elliot walked along the old path leading through the woods, away from the castle of hearts.

"How was the Queen?" Elliot asked his boss as the man stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and hunched his shoulders a little bit. It wasn't the least bit dignified but then they were far enough away from the castle and their home that he could afford to look a little bit undignified.

"Not good." Blood said after a second or so of silence. Something needed to change for his sister, hopefully soon. He had already buried their parents, he had no desire to bury her too.

Eliots ears slumped a little bit. "I'm sorry Blood."

Blood looked back at him for a second then nodded his head a little bit then turned his head away again and stopped dead in his tracks, causing Elliot to run into him. Elliot grunted then looked up at Blood and started to open his mouth to ask why his boss had stopped when Blood slapped a hand over his mouth and pointed to a tree up ahead. Elliot shut his mouth and looked where Blood pointed and felt his jaw drop as he caught sight of a girl with black curly hair pulling on a turquoise and black V neck shirt over a red and black lace bra.

"My, my, but I do enjoy these walks through the woods." Blood said in an amused tone as the girl bent down and pulled on a sock and then slipped her foot into a pair of dainty looking shoes with small heels. Once she seemed to be done dressing she leaned down again and picked up a large black leather jacket and sighed then turned and called out to someone.

"It looks like we stumbled on some couples tryst. Should we be standing here?" Elliot asked in a whispered tone. Blood made a soft humming sound.

"I want to see who is with her."

"Why?"

"Curiosity." Blood whispered back as he watched the bushes part a little bit and Boris, the Cheshire cat stepped through and took the jacket from the girl and shrugged it on and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and led her back through the bushes and out of sight.


	12. Chapter 12

_"So the Cheshire cat has a lady love now. How interesting-" Blood said in a thoughtful tone as he turned to look at Elliot and smiled. "We'll have to find out who the young lady is and tease her unmercifully for falling for a lowly cat..." _

_Elliot looked at his boss and sighed. Crap. Blood would go after Boris's little girlfriend until the cat man decided to put a bullet in between his eyes. _

_"Blood, I know that your feeling more than a little out of sorts because of the Queen but-" Elliot stopped talking when Blood gave him a cold look. _

_"But?" Blood prompted with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. _

_"Well...do you have to pick on the Cheshire cat's girl? I mean will you only be satisfied when someone puts a bullet in your head?" _

_"The cat wouldn't dare." _

_"Uh...yes, yes he would." _

_"I'm not afraid of kitty's claws. I just think it amusing that he claimed to have been in love with that woman, and yet here is is with another. Tell me Elliot, as a man who loved Alice almost more than your own life, is she really that easy to replace?" _

_"It's been five years Blood. Some of us have grown up and moved on." _

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"I never got your name." Ali pointed out as the cat man led her through the woods and back to town. He glanced down at her, a little amused that someone so _prickly_ by nature would allow a stranger to put his arm around her shoulders after a simple word exchange.

Boris laughed a little bit. She hadn't got his name because he hadn't given it. And he wouldn't give it until she promised to come to dinner with him and let him get to know her better. "And you won't for a while. Tell me Ali, what are you doing for dinner later on?"

Ali stumbled and almost fell. Almost being the operative word since he quickly grabbed her and pulled her against his side and wrapped his arm around her neck for a second. "W-Why do you want to know?" Ali stuttered as she turned pink. He grinned at her.

She really was a cute kid.

"I asked because I want to take you out to dinner."

"Why?"

"Why not would be the better question. And are you going to answer me or do I have to do something drastic like strip you again?" He asked in a warning tone. Ali sputtered and flushed a deeper shade of pink.

"Y-You wouldn't!" She had just got her clothes back! He gave her an oh-wouldn't-I look and she made a distressed sound before saying. "Fine. I'll join you for dinner but I need to go back to Julian's and get ready." She needed to buy some new clothes, take a shower, fix her hair... God this was going to be a pain in the ass.

Boris's ears twitched a little bit as he heard her say Julian's name.

He had been wondering where she was staying now that he had established her connection to Alice and the fact that she was an outsider, and was a little more at ease knowing that she was staying with Julian since the man was the least likely to try something weird with her.

He smiled down at her again and slipped his arm from her neck to her shoulders and gave her a small squeeze. "What a coincidence. I have to go by his place anyways so I'll walk you there."

Ali gave him a wide eyed look before hanging her head and groaning a little bit. God could this day get any more embarrassing?

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Boris was a total gentleman the rest of the way back to Julian's home, having already forgotten about the being 'punched in the balls' and the 'stripping Ali to her under things' completely. He led her back through town and paused for a second or so at one shop when Ali stopped walking and looked through the front window of the store and frowned when all he saw was clothes.

He was about to ask Ali why she was so interested, but figured that since she was new to Heartland she may not have had time to get some things and sighed. He'd have to dig out something for her before he took her to dinner.

He walked her up the steps to Julian's front door and opened the large heavy door for her and let her slip inside before he followed her inside. Ali stopped just inside the door and wrung her hands a little bit, a nervous habit that she had developed as a child, and waited for him to come in behind her before she started to say. "Uh...look about dinner I-" The cat man placed one finger against her lips quieting her.

"I'm aware that you haven't yet been to town to get some things. Don't worry about that. I can find you something that will fit you and look nice too." He said with a dazzling smile as he brushed past her and started walking. Ali fell into step behind him, an almost curious expression on her pretty face as she looked at him.

He was acting different from the way he had earlier. He was quieter, he had stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and his expression was blank as they walked all the way down the hall and paused briefly outside of the door there and he grasped the knob and opened it for her.


	13. Chapter 13

The moment the door opened Julian jumped to his feet, knocking over the glass of wine that Merry had been trying to coerce him into drinking. "Ali! Your back." _Oh thank god, now Merry can fuss over her and leave me alone!_ Julian thought in a panic as he quickly walked across the room and hugged the girl before she could run away.

"Hey! What are you-"

"Sorry, but I'm just a little bad at socializing. Help me please?" He whispered before letting her go as Merry came up behind him and looked at Ali.

"Oh my god Julian! I didn't know that you had a love child. She's adorable!" Merry said happily as he clapped his hands. Ali froze. Boris put his hand over his mouth and turned away a little bit to hide his laughter and Julian blanched for a second then sputtered as his face turned red and he all but roared at his friend's rude assumption.

"She's not my love child you twit!"

Merry gasped and flushed red. _"Your girlfriend? _Oh Julian, you cad! How could you? She's just a child!" Boris laughed harder. Ali blushed and started sputtering as Julian gave a low feral sounding growl and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and shook him.

"What is wrong with you? First you come here and force your wine on me now your trying to marry me off to the first innocent female you see!"

Merry laughed and gave him a sly look. "I never said anything about marriage. But now that you've brought it up, this lovely young lady might take pity on you and make you a happy man..." Ali got a mortified expression on her face and Boris finally managed to pull himself together and leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"I'll kidnap you and keep you for myself before I allow another man to marry you..."

"Huh?"

"Your dangerously close to being murdered Merry. Now shut your mouth." Julian snapped at him as he let his friend go and took several steps back and glanced down at Ali and noticed that she was staring at Boris with a peculiar expression on her pretty face. _I wonder what that is about? _Julian wondered curiously as Boris gave the girl a feline grin.

Julian looked Ali over and narrowed his eyes and frowned when he saw some grass attached to the back of her shirt and a small piece of leaf in her hair. _What in the world had she been doing? _Rolling around in the grass somewhere?

Merry laughed and straitened his shirt then looked at Ali and smiled. "Forgive me for picking on you miss. But I find it funny how easy Julian gets embarrassed."

Ali gave him a strained smile. "That's..." _Horrible._ Was this guy nuts or something? Who in their right mind would pick on someone as ominous looking as Julian? "Okay. I guess." But if it happened again she was going to borrow the letter opener on Julian's desk and _stab_ this weird man with it.

The man reached out and grabbed her hand in his and kissed it. Ali bristled and nearly hissed at the man like a cat when the cat man next to her reached out and slapped Merry's hand startling him into releasing her. "Enough crap old man. You're freaking Alice out."

Merry blinked at Boris, his expression surprised. "Alice? This young lady's name is Alice?"

Boris flattened his ears against his head and wrapped an arm around Ali's shoulders and pulled her back against him and growled. "That's Ali to you old man. If I hear you use her full name again I'm going to shoot you."

Merry gave Boris a sly look and started to open his mouth when Julian reached out and grabbed Ali and yanked her from Boris's hold and ran over to his desk and dropped down behind the solid wood piece and pulled Ali down beside him and wrapped his arms around her and waited for the inevitable explosion of gun fire.

Ali squirmed and pushed against him, trying to get loose but Julian tightened his grip on her almost painfully and tangled his fingers in her hair and forced her face against his jacket as Boris and Merry's bickering escalated out of control.

"Who are you to dictate what I can and can't call that charming creature?" Merry growled.

Boris gnashed his teeth and gave a loud angry feline growl as his gun materialized out of thin air, a testament to how upset the cat man was. "How dare you call her charming! Your not wooing her, you old perverted goat!"

Merry's gun materialized and he grasped it and pointed it at Boris and gave him a malicious look then started chanting. _"Charming, charming, charming, charming-"_

Ali finally managed to squirm free of Julian's grasp a little bit and peeked over the top of the desk before he pulled her back down. "God their acting like children." Julian said in an almost put out tone.

"Yeah. No kidding. I _almost_ hope that they take each other out." Ali said in a peeved tone as the two started shooting at each other. Julian yelped and ducked his head as a stay bullet collided with the top of his desk, splintering some of the wood.

"I _do_ hope that they take each other out." Julian hissed earning a funny look from Ali before several rapid shots went off and she shrieked and threw herself against his side.


	14. Chapter 14

Ali screamed as a bullet thudded into the thin wood protecting her and Julian from harm and Julian gnashed his teeth and pulled her into his lap, knowing that where he was sitting was less likely to splinter into pieces and allow a stray bullet to hit him unlike where she had been sitting which splintered as another bullet hit it, causing a sizable piece of wood to fall to the floor.

_Dammit, why can't those two keep a hold on their tempers?_ He thought darkly as he tightened his hold on Ali and raised his voice so that he could be heard over the yelling and shouting and the gunshots. "**_Both of you stop it right now! You're scaring Ali!" _**

All at once the yelling and shooting stopped and Boris came running up and dropped down next to Julian and looked at Ali, his expression worried. Julian felt the nearly overwhelming urge to punch the cat in the face as he looked down at Ali.

The poor girl was shaking like a leaf, her expression frightened, her face pale.

"Ali are you okay?" Boris asked as he hesitantly reached out and brushed his finger tips along her cheek. Julian glared at the cat and wondered if Merry would hate him if he took the damn neko out and shot him for being so stupid as to engage in a gun fight in Ali's presence. Especially when she was frightened enough of them already.

She jerked her head back as if she had been struck and buried her face against Julian's jacket and tried to hide herself. Boris dropped his hand and his ears drooped a little bit as a hurt look crossed his features. This was bad. This was really bad. Ali wasn't looking at him. She flinched away from his touch.

She was genuinely afraid of him now. He was about to say something when Nightmare appeared out of thin air several feet away and glared at him.

"_Un-fucking-believable_. I bring you a new woman to mend your hearts and you frighten her out of ten years of her life. Tell me, are all of you insane? Is that why you were stupid enough to start a gun fight in front of her?" Nightmare growled as he walked over to Julian and held his hands out.

"Nightmare, what-"

"Be silent fool and hand the girl to me. I'm going to make things simple on you all and erase her memories of her _world_, her _mother_ and this_ incident_. Once that is done you all will have exactly _one _year to endear yourselves to her or I'll be taking her away from you and _keeping_ her with me from then on." Nightmare snapped in anger as he reached out and pried Julian's arms from around Ali and dragged her away from him.

Ali gave Julian a wide eyed panicked look and tried to tug herself free of Nightmare's grasp. But Nightmare only tightened his grip and jerked her in close and put his free hand against her forehead. Ali opened her mouth to scream.

_No! She didn't want to forget anything!_

But no sound came out. The strange man's hand started glowing and for a moment she was utterly fascinated by the faint light that seemed to be coming from under his skin, and then the glow intensified, blinding her as the world flashed white then black and she fell back and hit the floor with a dull thud and started seizing.

She could hear two distinct voices calling her from far away, but she couldn't say anything as her body spasmed and twitched uncontrollably.

"Nightmare what is-"

"Her memories are being erased Julian. Did you think that I could simply touch her and get it down without causing some strain on her heart and mind? It doesn't work that way. Erasing memories, especially the ones that are _important_, is a slow and sometimes _painful_ process. She'll stop seizing soon enough, but she'll need to rest for the next day or so. If she sleeps longer than that, summon me and I'll wake her up." Nightmare said as he slowly faded into nothing.

Vanishing back into the world of dreams where he could watch what happens next without being hindered.

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here is this chapter.

I'll try and make the next one longer.


	15. Chapter 15

It had been two in a half days since Nightmare had erased Ali's memories and during that time both Boris and Julian had stayed with the girl to take care of her and watch her for any signs of distress or pain that she might be feeling while Nightmare quietly observed Ali in his own way, pulling her conscious mind from her body and placing it in his realm of dreams so that he could protect her from any physical side effects of erasing those more _permanent_ pieces of her heart and mind.

He placed her in a nice dream, where he showed her all the wonders and beauty that heart land had to offer. And from time to time would appear beside her when she was out exploring. Today was really no different as he materialized next to her while she was out walking.

"Hello Alice."

She turned her head and looked at him. "Hi Nightmare. It's a pretty day today, isn't it?"

Nightmare tipped his head back and closed his eye against the brightness of the dream sun and had to agree with her. "Yes. It's very pretty today-" He said as his lips curved up in a small smile and after a second or so he looked at her. "So. What is on today's agenda?"

Ali shook her head, her smile never faltering for a second. "I have _no _idea. I actually have this funny feeling that I'm supposed to be doing something but I have no idea what it is." Nightmare studied her for a second then looked away, unsure of how to respond to her words.

She probably felt that it was time to wake up now. But he was reluctant to let her wake just yet. It wasn't that he planned to have her sleep forever, or even to keep her. He just...didn't want to let her wake up and get scared like she had been during the gun fight.

He knew that Julian and Boris were worrying themselves sick, but for the moment he was content to let them. After all the need to erase Ali's memories had been entirely _their _fault. And what kind of fool would he be if he didn't punish them at least a little bit?

"I often get such feelings myself..." He said after a second or so as he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets.

"It's sort of annoying isn't it?" Ali asked with an amused grin. Nightmare smiled and nodded his head. Yes, such feelings were very annoying. Especially when one dreamt.

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Julian felt as if he were losing his mind.

He just didn't know how else to describe how he felt. It had been two in a half days since Ali was put to sleep by Nightmare and in that time he had sat by her bedside. Alternating between holding her hand and talking to her.

He told her about Heartland and how pretty it was and how interesting and kind the people were once she got to know them. He told her that they weren't all bad and at some point started to babble about her mother and her visit to Heartland.

It was right about then that he realised that he was grieving.

He had already lost Alice to the other world, and now he felt as if he was losing Ali too. He couldn't remember feeling so scared.

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Boris was stretched out on the lounge chair across the room, pretending to be asleep as he listened to Julian talk. His heart ached for the guy, but there was nothing that either of them could do at the moment. Nightmare had said that Ali would wake up soon, and though Boris was worried about the girl.

Nightmare had never lied to them before so all he could do was sit and wait and pray that Ali woke up before Julian truly lost his mind.

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Vivaldi sat in her garden.

The one that she escaped to when she slept after a particularly bad visit with her brother as stared at the empty space across from her. Usually Alice sat there. Not the real Alice, mind you, but the one that her distraught mind conjured for her. But today was different.

Vivaldi felt it deep down inside. The severed connection and the horrifying dreams about Alice and her life in the other world and Vivaldi just knew. Like she had the other day when she had gone into hysterics while her brother visited her.

Alice was dead.

She wasn't exactly sure how she knew it, but she did. And that was why she was now sitting alone in the garden in her mind. Reality was finally sinking in. She felt tears well up and lifted her hands to hastily wipe at her eyes. Wishing that she could stop crying, but knew that she wouldn't be able too.

She was mourning. Tears were normal. She sighed tiredly, finding it a little ironic that she couldn't even rest in her own dreams and willed the garden away and stood up as everything vanished. Maybe a simple walk around the dream world would help her take her mind off of her sorrow.

She chose a specific place and willed herself there and smoothed her skirt as she looked around. This part of the dream realm was chocked full of interesting things that were both wonderful and amusing. She looked around and spotted the familiar face of Nightmare sitting at a cafe table thirty or forty feet away and decided to go say hi to him when she noticed that he was sitting next to a young girl with long curly and wavy black hair.

Curious to know what her old friend was up too she watched the two for a few seconds and moved in a little closer. She was about ten feet away from Nightmare and his little friend when she noticed the girl's face.

She looked just like-

"Alice."

Nightmare must have heard her, because he turned his head and looked at her, his smile faltering for a second or so before he jumped to his feet and swore violently and snapped, "Off you go Ali." And snapped his fingers.

An instant later the girl was gone.


	16. Chapter 16

Alice's eyes fluttered open for a moment as she shifted under the covers, the slight movement drawing Julian and Boris's attention. "Ali!" Boris said happily as he flung himself out of the lounge chair and over to the bed as Julian leaned forward and held his breath, hoping that she was finally waking up.

A second or so later Ali's eyes opened and she blinked and looked around. "Ali? Ali? Can you hear me?"

"Yes." She rasped as she reached up and rubbed at her eyes with her hands.

She had no sooner started to lower her hands than she was pulled upright in a tight embrace that forced the air from her lungs as she was squeezed hard enough to bring pained tears to her eyes. It felt like whoever was holding her was trying to crush her. She made a funny sound and squirmed in the tight grasp as she tried to breathe.

Julian was beside himself. He couldn't help it, he was just so damn happy that Ali had finally opened her eyes that he couldn't help but want to hold her. He wrapped his arms around her slender frame and buried his face in her thick dark hair and tried to hold back his tears.

He had been so scared that she wouldn't awaken, that he had started grieving as if she were dead. His mind taunting him that she was just like her mother and would one day leave him alone.

Boris sat beside the two, patiently waiting his turn when he noticed the pained expression on Ali's face and reached out and shoved a hand between Juilan's body and her own and separated them before Julian could suffocate the poor girl to death.

Julian slowly forced his grip to loosen as Boris continued to push against his chest with his elbow until he had Ali held at a rather daunting, and lonely arms length from him and looked her over anxiously, only vaguely aware of Boris hissing and growling at him about nearly crushing her.

"Are you okay?" Julian asked anxiously.

Ali shook her head no. Her ribs hurt from where he had squeezed her too tightly.

Her head hurt, and her mouth was dry. She felt as if she had been sick. Just how long had she been... What had she been doing anyways? Her body felt stiff. Like it hadn't moved in days. She wanted to asked Julian and Boris what had happened to her, but for some reason couldn't seem to form the words no matter how hard she tried.

In the end she didn't have to ask anything. Boris disappeared and a moment later reappeared with a glass of water and held it out to her. She took it with a small greatful look and took a sip while Julian told her that she didn't need to worry about a thing.

He and Boris would take care of her until she was feeling better.

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Two days later-

Ali sat up in bed and started to stretch when she noticed the cat laying on it's back dangerously close to where her feet were. It's thick dark purple fur sticking out all over the place indicating that it was in desperate need of a good grooming.

What was a cat doing in bed with her? She didn't recall going to bed with a purple colored cat the night before, but then she wasn't recalling much of anything from the past few days, period. She shifted slightly and pulled her legs close to her and reached out and poked the cat in the stomach and giggled when the feline twitched violently and made a chirping sound as it opened wide, dazed looking teal eyes and looked at her as it extended one paw towards her and yawned.

"What are you doing in bed with me?" She asked as she poked the cat in the stomach again, and was rewarded by a loud, lazy sounding purr as the cat rolled over and got to it's feet and walked across the mattress to her and flopped down right next to her and then suddenly seemed to shift and grow until a young man decked out in black leather pants and a mesh shirt, was laying in the once empty space beside her.

She started and jumped as she scrambled towards the edge of the bed. "Boris!"


	17. Chapter 17

"I can't believe that you slept in the bed with me-" Ali muttered in a disgusted tone as she and Boris walked down the hall way together. Boris's ears flattened back against his head as he stifled a yawn behind one of his hands and tried to wake up.

But the strain and worry from the past few days when he and Julian had been watching over Ali, was finally catching up to him. The second that she had lain down to go to sleep the night before, he'd assumed his feline form and curled up next to her so that he could take a nice rest _and_ moniter her in her sleep while he was at it.

He hadn't expected her to wake up early this morning. Nor had he expected her to freak out and start screaming about him being in her bed half naked. "Let it go Ali..." Boris muttered as he glanced down at her.

She looked so adorable in her short sleeved turqouise knee length dress with the little pink satin ribbon belt with the silver heart shaped buckle on it. Her long dark hair was tied back by two satin ribbons, layered over one another and neatly tied in a bow to achieve a butterfly like effect. Leaving the rest of her silken hair to frame her angelic face and fall down her back in a cascade of soft waves and curls.

Boris snickered as he thought of what Julian's reaction to seeing Ali would be once they reached the dining room. He'd bet the gloomy, ill mannered man would faint from the cuteness. If he didn't choke on his food first.

Boris snickered again and reached out and tugged slightly on a strand of Ali's hair. "Have I told you how cute you look in your new dress?"

"It's not mine. I never really managed to get any new clothes so...I sort of went through Julian's closet and found this-" Ali said as she looked down at herself and scrunched up her nose like a bunny would then asked. "You don't think Julian cross dresses on the weekends do you?"

Boris blinked at her and tried to imagine Julian putting on a dress for _any_ reason and nearly fell to the floor, he was laughing so hard.

Ali gave him an embarrassed look and wanted to kick him. Her theory wasn't funny. It _was_ totally valid. I mean one look at a guy as pretty as Julian practically screamed, _Cross dresser! _Or_ Gay! _Especially when women's clothes were found in said man's room with no traces of a woman around.

Boris sank to the floor clutching his stomach, his laughter ringing in her ears. "J-Julian-" Boris snorted and shook his head, his ears and tail twitching like mad.

Ali was about to tell Boris to stop laughing when a heavy glass vase came flying out of nowhere and slammed into Boris's face, smashing to bits while knocking the laughing feline flat on his back where he lay twitching while Julian walked up and stared down at him dispassionately for a moment before glancing at Ali who had her back against the wall, her face pale, her eyes impossibly wide.

"Good morning Ali." Julian said softly, snapping the frightened girl out of her funk.

She looked at him and blinked as she took a hesitant step away from the wall and peeked around him as if she were expecting another vase to come flying out of nowhere. She needn't have worried. Julian had only thrown the vase to shut Boris up. Although he had expected the man to manage to dodge instead of get knocked in the head and rendered unconscious and start bleeding on his nice clean floor.

The damned feline would be scrubbing his tower from top to bottom later as punishment for staining his marble floor crimson with his blood.


	18. Chapter 18

Blood walked through Vivaldi's bedroom doors and stopped cold at the sight of his sister sitting at her vanity dressed in her finest scarlet red satin dress, her long curly black hair was perfectly brushed and styled and she was applying a touch of rogue to her cheeks when she noticed him standing in the door and turned around and smiled.

"Blood, how nice of you to come." He blinked his scarlet eyes and nervously looked over his shoulder half expecting the White Rabbit to be standing there with a gun pressed against his back. But there was no one there.

He frowned and looked back at his sister and decided to bite the bullet and find out what his ill sister was doing out of bed. He just hoped that he could stand to hear the answers to his questions.

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"Julian you bastard! Did you have to throw that vase and hit me with it?" Boris hissed at the older man from across the table from Ali who looked up from her meal with a wary look on her face. She was probably wondering if Julian was going to throw the heavy crystaline vase with the blood red roses, sitting on the table behind him.

Julian looked at Boris over the rim of his coffee cup and then glanced at Ali. He hadn't had the chance to ask her how she was feeling just yet but he was deeply relieved that she was once again up and on her feet.

He'd never been so worried for another person before. Not even the time that Blood had come to his home and demanded that he give Alice to him before shooting up the place. It was a most peculiar feeling, this worrying business.

"Consider yourself lucky I didn't throw something heavier." Julian said absently as he set his coffee cup down. The neko growled at him in a menacing manner and then fell silent as he nursed his wound. Leaving Julian free to speak to Ali.

"Did you rest well Ali?"

The girl fumbled and dropped her fork, apparently startled that he was speaking to her and flushed with embarrassment as she nodded her head. "Y-Yes. I slept fine." Julian gave her an unreadable look then smiled and Ali blinked in astonishment. _Holy wow_- if she'd thought Julian was handsome before, she thought him heart stoppingly _beautiful_ now.

"Good. I'm glad that you were able to rest so well." Julian said gently as he put his elbow on his chair arm and propped his chin in his hand and looked at her for a moment before saying. "Your new outfit-"

"I'm sorry Julian. I found it in the back of your closet and thought it would be okay to wear."

"It's fine Alice-" Julian said, using her whole name for perhaps the second time in the while since he'd met her. "I just wanted to tell you that you look nice." Ali flushed again and stammered out a polite and softly spoken, 'thank you' as Julian said.

"I know that you still haven't gotten anything from town so I'd like to take you shopping today if you don't mind." Ali gave him a wide eyed look as Borris gaped at him in outrage before Ali nodded her head.

"Okay."

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Blood burst through Vivladi's room looking more furious than Elliot had ever seen him look before as he stalked past him and headed down the long hallway, heading for the door.

"Blood? Blood what's wrong?" Elliot called out as he ran up behind his boss as he stalked down the hall.

"You know that outsider's presence we felt a while back?"

"Yeah."

"It was her. That no good bitch Alice has come back." Elliot stopped walking, his mind reeling in shock. Alice. Their Alice was finally back. But how? Why? _Never mind the details Elliot, pull yourself together and go after Blood before he makes a grave mistake._


	19. Chapter 19

After breakfast Julian banished Borris from his home, growling at the neko that it was time he went home.

He could see Ali again in a day or so. Then when Borris flat out refused, saying that he didn't trust the man with Ali, Julian lost his temper a little bit and put him in a head lock and ran the neko into the wall several times. Making him howl and hiss in pain before forcing him out of his home and leaving him to find his way home to take care of his headache.

After he was sure that Borris was gone, Julian went back inside, kicking the door closed behind him and went to see if Ali was ready or if she needed more time. He was half way to his bedroom when he spotted Ali standing just thirty or forty feet ahead of him, leaning her back against the wall with her head down a little bit.

He stopped walking and just stood there wondering what was going through her mind.

Was she trying to recall her mother? Was she sad that she couldn't recall her? Was something else on her mind? Was she nervous about the outing he'd planned? God knew he was. And for good reason.

He had no idea how to entertain a young woman nor had he ever gone shopping with one. He'd always imagined shopping with a woman as a _tedious_ thing to be avoided at all costs. So why then had he told Ali that he wanted to take her shopping?

Well, one person's guess was as good as anothers. But basically he did it so that he could spend some time with her since he hadn't been able too as of yet. He was about to call out to her and ask her if she was alright when she lifted her head and looked at him. "Oh Julian, I'm sorry was I taking too long or something?"

He looked a little taken aback by her question but shook his head anyways. "Uh, no. You weren't taking too long. I was just coming to see if you were ready and if not then to tell you to take your time."

Ali gave him a small smile as she pushed away from the wall and Julian found himself blurting out, "Are you feeling okay?" Ali paused in mid step and blinked at him, uncertain about what he was asking her about. She felt fine. Really. And aside from the little dizziness she'd felt a moment ago, she was perfect.

"I'm good. Still just a bit tired." She said as she closed the distance between them. Julian got a calculating look on his face and reached out and pulled her to a stop when she tried to brush by him. He more or less tugged her over to stand in front of him by her dress sleeve and then gently used his finger tips to raise her face so that he could see her more clearly.

She still looked a mite pale, there were faint circles under her eyes. But other than that she seemed perfectly fine. "I'll make sure that we only stay out for an hour or two. That way if you get tired we can come back and you can rest a while before dinner."

"That's very kind of you Julian but you don't have to worry. I'm fine." Ali said with what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Julian slipped his hand from under her chin to ghost along the curve of her cheek. His worry from the past few days nagging at his mind.

Reminding him that Ali may not be feeling up to much just yet and it wouldn't be wise to over tax her strength.

"Very well Ali. If you're ready..." He said as he offered his arm to her. Ali looked a little flustered then slipped her arm around his and rested her small hand on the back of his. Julian felt a peculiar jolt through his system at the slight touch of her hand against his and swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat.

Oh dear god what had he just gotten himself into? He didn't feel right. He felt...odd.

Breathless, overly warm, his palm felt damp and his heart was beating faster than normal. _What is this?_ He wondered as he walked Ali down the hall to the door and politely opened and held it for her then once she was outside, took a deep breath and stepped out behind her.


	20. Chapter 20

Julian had never thought even in a million years that he would wind up willingly leaving his home-or his work- simply to take a woman shopping. But Ali needed a fresh change of clothes and while he had some things in the back of his closet, well, he felt strangely about her wearing them.

Not angry or uncomfortable. Just strangely.

Which was why he took Ali to some of the nicest shops around town to see if she could find something she liked. He was only mildly surprised when she found a pretty white dress with a butterfly bow belt adorned with the most subtle hints of ruffles along the sleeves and skirt.

The dress itself was lovely and would fit Ali like a glove which was why Julian had gotten it for her along with a teal colored dress with a square neckline and elbow length sleeves and a long, full ankle length skirt.

After buying those two dresses he then caught sight of a lovely knee length black lace and red satin dress with a lace up corset top with matching gloves black lace and matching silk leggings and shoes.

He'd gotten those for her on impulse along with some jewelry to wear with them, then after giving the woman behind the counter instructions to have them delivered to his home, grabbed Ali whom had been looking at something else and tugged her out the door to take her to another place to look.

The next place he took her too was a nightmare. It had to be hands sown the most horrible place a man could step foot into. Ali apparently thought so too because she took one look at the place, cringed, and none too subtly ran for the door before he could stop her.

They took a break after that and went to a cafe where they both sat down and ordered some tea and Julian ordered something for Ali to eat since it was well into the afternoon and they both just sat there for the longest time. Enjoying each others company while they drank their tea as Ali nibbled on the cucumber sandwhiches that he'd ordered for her and again tried to offer him one.

Julian declined just as politely as he had the first four times she'd tried to hand him something to eat, and smiled at her. A nice warm feeling settling in his chest from having her try to get him to eat.

He wasn't used to having someone try to coax him into eating or drinking or resting and had always wondered what it would be like to have someone that cared enough to try. And now he knew, he wasn't so sure that he could let such a feeling or the person who inspired it slip from his grasp.

It was then and there, while he was watching Ali eat and listening to her talk to him about anything and everything that he decided to make a serious effort to win her heart.

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Blood stormed out of Julian's home and slammed the door closed behind him then turned around and kicked it in frustration. That sly bastard was once again keeping the Outsider in his home.

_That bitch Alice just couldn't stop whoring around even after all this time can she?_ He thought as he inwardly seethed. He should have killed the little slut when he'd caught her that time with Peter White. He walked down the steps to his carriage and was about to climb in when a dirty, tousled figure walked through the bushes and blinked at him.

Blood made a sound of annoyance and stepped back from his carriage. "Ace! Have you seen Julian?"

The knight gave him a sunny smile and held up a hand as he called back. "I haven't seen him since...three weeks ago! Sorry!" Blood eyed the man suspiciously and made a strained sound in the back of his throat and sighed. Jesus, just how long had Ace been wandering in the woods?

"He has to be the most directionally challenged being I've ever come across before." Elliot muttered from inside the carriage. Blood echoed his thought asAce walked up to him and looked him over for a second before asking.

"What are you doing here Hatter? I don't believe that I've seen or heard of you scocializing with Julian since that time you-" Blood whipped his cane around so fast that Ace couldn't track it until he felt something pressing against the underside of his jaw and blinked as Blood hissed like an angry snake.

"Don't say that woman's name or I'll fucking kill you."

Ace gave him a wry smile and thought, _Well alrighty then. _


	21. Chapter 21

Once they were done with lunch, Julian payed the bill and stood then offered his hand to Alice. Needing to feel her small, delicate hand in his to reafirm his decision to try and vie for her heart against Borris, Elliot, Ace and the others.

Tilting her head back, Ali looked at him with those wide teal eyes of hers. Her expression openly curious even as she slipped her hand into his, causing his pulse to leap in response.

Gently pulling her to her feet, he then watched as she started to collect the bags with her new clothes- and felt the small urge to chuckle at her silliness. What was the point in him taking her shopping if he wasn't going to chivalrously carry her bags for her? He was a gentleman after all, wasn't he? Bending down slightly at the waist, he gently took possession of the bags from her even as she awkwardly protested, "Hey! I can- You don't have to- _Julian!_"

"Hush Ali. I do not mind carrying them."

"But they're heavy." Ali said in a concerned tone that had Julian tilting his head to the side, reminding Alice of a bird of prey she had once seen the picture of in one of her late mother's books. The intense way he looked at her made her shiver a little even as she saw his lips curl up in a small amused smile before replying,

"The fact that they are heavy are all the more reason for me to carry them."

"Well that may be but-"

"No buts Alice. I will carry the bags. Besides, you still aren't feeling completely well and I do not want you're health to fail..." Alice got a look on her face that reminded Julian of what Borris looked like as a kitten before he had been taken in by Merry.

That look, it was haunted. Holding a thousand secrets.

And it made him wonder if no one in her world other than her mother had ever been so kind to her before she had come to Heartland. He wanted to ask, to know what her life had been like before Heartland. But part of him felt it would be cruel to do so.

Especially with the recent death of her mother.

"Come Ali," he said as he shifted his hold on some of the bags so that he could free up an arm and offer it to her. "I can see that you are tiring. I believe that we have just enough time for one more shop before we start back. What would you like to see this time?"

Ali was quiet for a heartbeat or two as they walked out of the cafe, her mind going over possible shops that she had yet to see but wanted too before saying weakly, "I-I don't know."

Julian stopped walking and tilted his head again as he considered her answer before suggesting, "We've only bought several dresses and other things for you to wear. Perhaps you would like to get a few more outfits before heading back?"

"If you think I should..." Alice replied. Julian nodded his head as they started walking again.

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Frustrated that he hadn't been able to catch Julian in his home and demand that he hand over Alice, Blood sat in his carriage- seething in silence while Elliot and that damned knight of hearts, Ace, conversed about anything and everthing. Pissing him off even further since the drone of their voices were giving him a headache.

"Where are we going?" Elliot asked him suddenly, jarring Blood from his dark thoughts just enough to look around as if confused when he was actually checking to make sure that his order to drive into town was actually being followed by his driver since the wanker had a problem when it came to taking orders.

Why the last time he'd ordered his carriage driver to drive him into town the man had taken him miles from home and left him hanging off of the edge of a cliff. The damned bloody bastard...

_I should have killed him for that stunt. _Blood thought, but then good drivers were so hard to find these days. Once he had assured himself that they were indeed heading into town, he sighed and finally answered Elliot's question. "We're going into town. Since Julian isn't at his home, then he must be there. Tracking him down shouldn't be all that hard since he has an outsider with him. He's probably showing her around."

"Ah, so you're still looking for him." Elliot said thoughtfully as his left hand went to the gun holster attached to his belt, his fingers tapping the leather absently as Ace silently calculated a way to find Julian first.

Hopefully before his old friend wound up with a few bullet holes in him.

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Alice finished trying on the skirts, shirts, pants and shoes that Julian had helped her pick out, and folded what was in her hands carefully so that she didn't end up accidentally wrinkling it. And then laid it aside with the other pieces of clothing when she was hit by a sudden bought of dizziness. Staggering a bit, her back hit the wall behind her with a dull thud just as Julian decided to thrust an arm into the dressing room, his hand extended with a teal satin and black lace ribbon in it.

Glancing over at his hand, she reached up and took the ribbon and slowly eased herself onto the small bench and waited for the wave of dizziness to pass as she said a breathless 'thank you' as Julian's arm disappeared.

She took a moment to study the piece of beautiful workmanship in her hands and smiled faintly when she heard Julian ask from outside the dressing room, "Do you like it Alice?"

"Yes. It's very nice." Alice said as she ran a finger along the silky smooth fabric as if entranced.

"I'm glad," Julian said, his tone light as he looked down at the small bag of multi colored ribbons he had just gotten for her before asking, "Are you done trying clothes on?"

"Yes."

"Alright, bring what you want to the front when you are done re dressing."


End file.
